It was the first practice session after the first preseason game, and probably more than a handful of Philadelphia Eagles were going easy, resting sore muscles and bruised bones. Not Cecil Martin. In a 9-on-7 drill, he led a back into a hole, and those standing on the sideline heard perhaps the loudest pop of training camp. A couple of linebackers got off the ground with a "Did anybody get the license number of that truck?" look in their eyes. Linebackers around the Big 10 Conference have known that feeling for the past four years.

The Eagles had more trouble making substitutions than a fussy eater at a Chinese restaurant Sunday in Jacksonville. It led to the mistakes and penalties that contributed mightily to the empty feeling they were left with when the game was over. "If we could have eliminated the mistakes, we were right there," head coach Andy Reid said. Start with the special teams. Philadelphia's shoddy kick return coverage will be addressed before the team returns to action against Tampa Bay on October 20 in a game that bears huge playoff implications.

The easy thing to do would be to criticize the Philadelphia Eagles after their 33-7 loss to the Carolina Panthers Sunday afternoon. Instead, let's make a list of the things the Eagles did right. They didn't get shut out. Kicker Norm Johnson didn't mess up. Neither did punter Sean Landeta. They didn't lose a heart-breaking game in the final seconds. Rookie quarterback Donovan McNabb got significant playing time. Whoa, wait a minute. Let's not get crazy here.

When it comes to incompetence, the guys in uniform may be only the tip of the iceberg in the Philadelphia Eagles organization. While it took an extra 4:24 of overtime for the Eagles to bungle their way to their sixth loss of the season, their head coach and the people who run their organization weren't done for the day. They took it to the postgame press conference and beyond with a performance so goofy, so ill-considered, so petty, so moronic that...

Donovan McNabb admitted he got a little overexcited back in preseason when he played in his first professional game. He promised it's not going to happen again today. Today he's going to try to follow his parents' advice to just go out and "have fun," which may mean that he'll be the only person in Veterans Stadium with an interest in the Philadelphia Eagles who won't be intensely worried about how he performs. Gnawing at their fingernails the hardest will be the members of the Eagles organization who aren't in uniform, the front office and Head Coach Andy Reid.

Although most of us have the dual ambition of eventually becoming rich and old, that's not necessarily the best way to survive in the National Football League. In these days of free agency and salary caps, teams are no longer loyal to their veteran players, and a high salary combined with any hint of being over the hill is an almost certain recipe for unemployment, or at least a forced pay cut. Throw in a desire by a team such as the Eagles to rebuild with youth and any player who is 30-something with a seven-digit paycheck is in trouble.

— Very often in the NFL, there is a debate in the war room right up until the minute the ultimate decision is made on a draft pick, particularly in the first round. That was not the case in April for the Eagles, who failed to do as expected by both staying at their original position (No. 23) in the first round and then pulling the trigger on 26-year-old but relatively inexperienced Baylor tackle Danny Watkins, a Canadian native who only began playing the sport four years earlier.

Although Eagles fans probably would like to see big changes in what was an anemic offense last season, what they're probably going to see instead is big changes in their favorite team's defense. That's partly because of the new players they picked up in this year's draft, but more so because of a different philosophy from new defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. Former coordinator Emmitt Thomas liked to keep things simple and "Don't do anything to hurt us." Johnson's likes to confuse offenses with a complicated system whose emphasis is on "Do what you can to hurt them."

As the rookies and free agents for the Philadelphia Eagles filed into McClintic-Marshall Hall at Lehigh University on Saturday, visions of glory, not stifling weather conditions, danced through their heads. The veterans reported Tuesday night, and suddenly, everything is for real. Two-a-day practices in pads begin today, at 8:45 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. Last season's 5-11 finish is a fading memory. More memorable are the two season-ending wins, including one over the Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams.

by TERRY LARIMER, Call Sports Columnist Torrance Small seem happy to be wearing the cap of their team during Tuesday's press conference at Veterans Stadium | February 17, 1999

The Philadelphia Eagles have signed their No. 1 and 2 catchers and new Head Coach Andy Reid said they'll be joined by a new starting pitcher he doesn't want to talk about just yet. Reid said at Tuesday's press conference to introduce new wide receivers Charles Johnson and Torrance Small that it was their day, so, "we won't talk about the quarterback right now. We will take care of that." The fact that the Eagles are talking with Green Bay Packers backup Doug Pederson may be the guy Reed wants, which seems to be a bit of a stretch.